History Every Day
Real Writing on Racing 💯
☀️ Couldn’t have been a nicer day at the old Spa. Perfect temp, low humidity, sunny skies and just the slightest breeze was a great way to kick off the final week of the meet. Here is hoping that the next few days bring more of what today did.
🎪 Kicked off the card with the penultimate steeplechase race of the season which went to Proven Innocent who was up in the final strides to score as the slight favorite for Jack Fisher and jockey Jaime Bargary. I wagered on Who’s Counting, who led throughout, but had to settle for third as he was unable to quicken through the non-jumping end of the race.
🎪 We have seen this move before from Adam Rice. The Presque Isle based trainer has shipped in with unheralded first timers that were ridden by his brother-in-law Jose Ortiz and scored. Wednesday it was Closethegame Sugar, named after the NY Mets closer, Edwin “Sugar” Diaz, rallying despite drifting out, to win the third, a restricted MSW for 2yo’s that were sold or RNA’ed for $50000 or less. The gelding by first year stallion surprise Girvin, was a $10000 Keeneland September yearling purchase. Webslinger, an Ellis Park shipper for Casse, raced greenly, finding trouble on several occasions, may have been best.
🎪 The fourth was a Filly NW2x allowance going a mile on the inner turf that wound up being run in a strange manner. John Velazquez riding Nevisian Surprise opened up a long lead down the backstretch, more than 10 lengths at one point (running the second quarter in 22.90 on the good course) while Flavian Prat on the favorite, Scottish Star (Arg) chased her from second. The gap between the two narrowed as they raced around the far turn and when both straightened away in the stretch, Scottish Star (Arg) eventually wore down Nevisian Surprise late, to win by a little better than two lengths. Nevisian Surpise managed to hold on to be second as 2nd choice Zainalarab wasn’t able to muster much of a late rally and checked in third.
🎪 The 8th was a $12500 claimer that scratched down to five with Double Shot for Jose D’Angelo and Luis Saez taking steady money all the way down to leaving the gate at 4/5. Finger Lakes shipper Banyan Breeze wasn’t having it though, dueling throughout with Durkin’s Call as Double Shot sat behind those two, seemingly getting the perfect trip. Banyan Breeze wouldn’t give up and gamely held on through the stretch, recording a 3/4 length victory over Double Shot who won the place photo. James Acquilino trains, Junior Alvarado rode, his second on the card.
⏳ The With Anticipation (Gr III) as originally drawn seemed to have sufficient pace with Bourbon Therapy, El Conejito and perhaps Boppy O all likely to be close to or on the lead. Yet when Bourbon Therapy scratched, along with a couple others, that scenario didn’t play out at all. El Conejito and Boppy O alternated on the lead setting glacial fractions over the good turf course, before the former stopped allowing the latter to inherit the front. The son of Bolt D’Oro had enough gas left in the tank to hold off the late closing Battle of Normandy as Asthewinneris tired late after ranging up menacingly in mid-stretch but held on to be third. Mark Casse trains, Dylan Davis rode, giving him his 3rd win on the day. Interesting fact: Freshman sires were represented by the first three crossing the wire in the With Anticipation (Gr III) - Bolt D’Oro, City of Light and Oscar Performance. Fellow first crop sire Girvin had a winner early on the card as well, the freshman class has really flexed it’s muscles lately.
🎪 Wednesday’s attendance figure was listed as 20,745 and the day’s handle was $11,961,375.
🏇🏻 Kentucky Downs opens today with enormous fields, giant purses and a great deal of bettors interest. The opening day feature is the $400,000 FanDuel Tapit stakes for nw of a sweepstakes in 2022 going 1 mile 70 yards. The likely post time favorite is In Love (Brz) who won a version of this race last year.
💵 The second Breeders Cup Classic pool opens Friday and closes Monday. Barry and I will give you an updated version of our thoughts and fair market odds in a blogpost this weekend!
👍🏼 Check out up and coming Kentucky trainer Jason Barkley’s informative new blog, JRB RACING. Jason gives you an great look inside his stable, explains the circumstances around his non-claiming race runners and has a lot of other good insights as well.
Day 36 (4 racing days to go)
PG Johnson (Listed) $150,000 8.5 f Inner Turf 2yo f
Lady Jasmine - NYB filly came out running for Donk, breaking maiden in debut at this same trip. Obviously this is a big move up in class but she has tactical speed which proved to be the difference in yesterdays With Anticipation (Gr III), the boys version of this race.
Whichwaze - bargain yearling purchase won first time out at Woodbine over the synthetic surface for Casse snd his most important client. Stretches out here and has the feel of an X factor type and there are a lot of questions to be answered but she has tactical speed and showed gameness in her debut. The red hot Dylan Davis picks up the mount.
Pachuca - rallied from the back of the pack to run second in the Ellis Park Debutante stakes (BT) after breaking her maiden in first start at GP. The effort was strong in her last though she was perhaps aided by a quick pace, she was wide throughout and was the only horse in the bulky field still closing at the end. Picks up Saez and trainer Gutierrez is sharp, she also has the pedigree to suggest that a turf route is within her scope on the quick turnaround.
Indian Spideroo - a potential pace factor, she just seems in tough here.
Idea Generation (Ire) - technically a first time starter as she competed in the 7th race on July 24th at Saratoga that was declared a ‘No Contest’ after an issue with the starting gate and outriders. In that non-race, she sat a good trip and had dead aim at the leader, Towhead but was unable to get past her the entire length of the stretch. Towhead returned to a disappointing third in a maiden on August 14. Prat rides for the suspended Irad. A contender for sure but perhaps an over-bet one.
Be Your Best (Ire) - was much the best in her unveiling July 31 at the Spa for solid trainer De Paz. Displayed strong closing kick that day and todays race seems to have the makings of an honest pace which should suit her. A short price doesn’t excite but her race was both visually impressive and fast.
Damaso - Perhaps named after Toronto Blue Jays legend Damaso Garcia? She tries turf after bombing in the Adirondack (Gr III) earlier in the meet sprinting on dirt. Picks up the crafty Jose Lezcano but this feels more like Hamm is throwing darts than anything.
Recognize - it’s rare to see Mott wheel back in two weeks but one of his strongest statistics is with horses who won their last start (29% from 164 starts) which is the case here. Lezcano stole that last race (NYB MSW going 8.5f on grass) on the front end, the race being the Bolt D’Oro fillies first two turn and turf try. Alvarado, who has ridden well lately, replaces Lezcano and figures to have the NYB filly up close to the pace again today.